Israeli Geography 101

Netanyahu is in a tizzy, his eyes are filled with hate
He said the problem with those Arabs is they won’t recognize a Jewish state
He said those Palestinians just won’t come around
To accepting Jewish rule on their holy ground
He said the Arabs don’t accept their new neighbors in the ‘hood
Those ungrateful regimes don’t respect us as they should
Well I don’t want to upset anyone or to unduly take to task
But if a state wants recognition it seems reasonable to ask

Where are your borders? (4x)

I heard him speaking to the Congress, getting his 29th standing o
He said we need our security from those terrorists, don’t you know
If you want security, I wonder if you’d say it’s true
That the Palestinians should have security too
‘Cause if you want security it seems only fair
That you should also grant it to the people over there
And maybe you could answer, though the question is a sin
Just where your country ends and your neighbors’ lands begin

Where are your borders? (4x)

He said we’re the only democracy in the Middle East
Or actually, he said, the only viable one at least
The PA isn’t viable ’cause they didn’t vote Abbas
They voted for those terrorists that they call Hamas
So we can’t recognize them — though we wish they would agree
That we stole their land quite fairly here by the Mediterranean Sea
We stole it fair and square — we stole it just like you
If you don’t like you’re an anti-Semite — whether you’re a Muslim or a Jew

“Israeli Geography 101” first appeared on Ten New Songs (2011), which appears as a bonus download with Big Red Sessions on Bandcamp. It later appeared, in a different form, on the CD, Meanwhile In Afghanistan (2012), and in yet another form on the acoustic version of the album that only appears on Bandcamp.

It’s a very basic question that somehow mystifies many in the west, but not Palestinians. That is, how can anybody deal with, recognize, or otherwise relate to a country that does not itself recognize its own international borders? If you want recognition or want to not be considered a land-grabbing country run by genocidal terrorists (such as Israel), then the first thing you need to do is define your own borders, and stop trying to expand beyond them by force or by any other means.